Wednesday, April 23, 2008

There are three kinds of people in this world: those that love Slap Stix, those that hate Slap Stix, and those that have never heard of a Slap Stix. For those that have never heard of a Slap Stix, allow me to enlighten you. Slap Stix is a caramel sucker that contains a beautiful, chewy center of swirled yellow, pink, and white nougat. The nougat is said to be banana, cherry, and vanilla flavored, but anyone who has eaten a Slap Stix would confirm that the predominant flavor is banana. Therefore, if you are not a fan of artificial banana flavor, as I have discovered many people aren't, you will probably not enjoy a Slap Stix. But that's okay, there will be more for me.

The origin of the Slap Stix is unknown to me. I do know that they have been around since at least the 1980s because I ate them as a kid. I also know that they are a product of the classic candy company NECCO. In 1920, Howard B. Stark of the Howard B. Stark Candy Company, which was later named Stark Candy Company, created the Snirkle which shares some similarities to the Slap Stix. Snirkle, which is no longer made, was a caramel candy with a vanilla nougat swirl. Very similar to the swirled Slap Stix, minus the banana-cherry bonus. Somewhere along the way, the Stark Candy Company ended up being bought by NECCO, which leads me to go all Nancy Drew and conclude that the retired Snirkle was the predecessor to the Slap Stix.

By the way, I would not recommend actually slapping someone with a "Slap" Stix. It hurts quite a bit, or so I've been told.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Let's take this back to the 3rd grade.... An onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound it is describes. I believe this is what the people at Wrigley had in mind when they named their latest bubble gum creation Hubba Bubba Glop. Glop. The word doesn't necessarily conjure up the most appetizing visual, but for this product it kinda works, and I don't mean that as a diss.

What we have here are 5 very large egg-shaped pieces of Hubba Bubba bubble gum covered in a flavored candy shell and filled with a liquid center. Of course, we've seen liquid filled gum before, probably most famously in Freshen Up. The Hubba Bubba Glop is similar to Freshen Up except that there is much more liquid and it's thicker, gloppier if you will. The glop actually reminded me of the gel stuff in those Squeeze Pop liquid lollipops. Hubba Bubba Glops come in two flavors, Strawberry Gush and Watermelon Rapid. I tried the strawberry flavor and thought it was pretty decent. All three components - the gum, candy shell, and glop are infused with strawberry flavor. I do think the flavor could have lasted a bit longer, but other than that it was a tasty chew.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Admittedly, I am not a coffee drinker. Each morning I wake up with a steamy cup of Earl Grey or English Breakfast tea, but never coffee. I enjoy the smell of coffee, however I just cannot seem to embrace the taste. Going into Starbucks and ordering a tall Vanilla Bean (a blended, non-coffee drink that tastes like a vanilla milkshake), getting strange looks from waitresses when I refuse a cup at breakfast - these things only remind me of my outcast status. Naturally, when I heard about the limited edition Twix Java, I was not as ecstatic as a real coffee lover might be, however I still picked up one up when I spotted it at my local Kmart store.

I am not entirely opposed to coffee-flavored candy. I like the somewhat granny-ish Coffee Nips, and occasionally crave chocolate-covered espresso beans. Unfortunately, I found the coffee flavor in the Twix Java too intense for my taste. The bar consists of coffee-flavored caramel, a chocolate cookie, and the standard milk chocolate coating. The caramel tasted like Folger's crystals were ground up in in it, which may be true judging by it's dark shade of brown. I was also not crazy about the chocolate cookie. I believe the traditional butter cookie is one of the best parts of the regular Twix, and am still puzzled over why the new version of the Twix PB has the inferior chocolate cookie when the old Peanut Butter Twix used to sport the delicious butter cookie. These things keep me up at night.

In order not to be entirely biased against the Twix Java, I had a known coffee addict give it a try and their opinion was that it was too sweet and artificial tasting. I've read other reviews online and most people rave about this new bar. Best thing to do is pick one up and try it for yourself, that is, if you are one of those coffee people.

Monday, April 07, 2008

This calculator I found on fredflare.com could actually make me like doing math. It looks like a real chocolate bar AND it's scented. Kinda has a 1980s vibe to it, but it's still totally awesome! Check out the website if you want to pick one up for yourself.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

The creative folks at Lollyphile were nice enough to let me sample their maple-bacon lollipop. Yeah that's right, I said bacon...in a lollipop. And hey, why not? Bacon is one of the most delicious foods ever, not to mention it pairs excellently with the sweet, stickiness of maple syrup. Think pancakes people, yummm. With this lollipop, Lollyphile accentuates the best of both these flavors. The maple is sweet and subtle, not at all sickeningly sweet like those maple leaf sugar candies that always seem to show up in stores called "Ye Olde Something-Or-Other". Here, the maple nicely compliments the bacon. And yes, those are real bits of bacon in the pop! There is a nice balance between the sweet and salty, in fact I wouldn't say one flavor dominates the other. Both maple and bacon come together in perfect harmony.

Lollyphile is a fairly new company based in San Francisco. On their website, Lollyphile assures the use of the best of the best ingredients, meaning no artificial flavors and the use of organic maple syrup and bacon. Currently, they have only two flavors in their repertoire, the other being absinthe, but they promise some more exciting flavors in the near future. I'm really curious to see what they'll come up with next. This is definitely a company geared toward making sophisticated candy, in that sense I mean "meant for adults". It probably wouldn't look too good if Little Jimmy showed up at the playground with an absinthe lollipop. Regardless, check Lollyphile out for yourself at www.lollyphile.com.